


Beach City New Year (2021)

by OwenPuppy21



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: (though i don't know how much you could do with it), Art welcome, F/M, Fluff, Happy New Year!, One Shot, Party, Podfic Welcome, i am having a crisis help me, no beta we die like men, post cannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:00:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28452771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OwenPuppy21/pseuds/OwenPuppy21
Summary: Happy New Year!The Crystal Gems are throwing a party at the temple, and Connie is coming to visit! 2020 has been a wild year for all of us, (but for them maybe not in the same ways) and it's time to reflect. But to also have some fun!Whatever happens, Connie knows one thing:Her jam bud will always have her back.
Relationships: Connie Maheswaran/Steven Universe
Kudos: 13





	Beach City New Year (2021)

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoy this! I only gave myself a few days to write this since I got the idea late, but I did my best!

The Maheswaran’s dinky car pulled up on the beach, Connie stepping out the back with aplomb and turning back to her parents. “I’ll miss you guys, you sure you don’t wanna stay?” She asked, already knowing the answer.

“We’ll miss you too, Connie,” her mum replied through the rolled-down window of the front seat. “but we’ve got our own party to get to.”

“And-“ Her Dad chimed in, leaning over Priyanka to see Connie “we know you’ll have a good time even without your mom and,” He shot finger guns at her with a playful smile “your good ‘ol Daddy-O! And maybe you’ll even get a New Year’s kiss!”

Connie snorted and waved a hand at them. “Dad! That’s not funny! Ah, but I hope you have a good time too.” She smiled as she hopped away backwards, leaving heel prints in the sand. “And happy New Year!”

As they drove off with a honk of their horn, Connie spun around to take in the sight of the party. It was late at night by now, so the sky was inky black, melting into the sea, but the party lights strung around made it easy enough to see. Some were even spiraled around an enormous stone statue of the number 2021, and she wondered when they even got something like that.

Noticing Peridot and Greg sitting in the sand on a laptop, Connie walked over to them. When she arrived, Peridot didn’t even look up from her screen and just kept making frustrated grunts, but Greg turned to look at Connie and smiled.

“Hey kiddo! You make it here alright?” he asked. Noticing someone was there, Peridot tore her attention from the laptop for a second.

“Connie! You have above average intellect, right? Help me with this-“ she bashed the sand and scrunched her face up in frustration “-cloddy program!”

Not quite knowing who to talk to first, Connie briefly said to Greg with a nod, “Mhm, mom and dad just left.” before turning to Peridot. She didn’t want to seem like she was brushing him off, but she couldn’t talk to both of them about different things at the same time. To clarify, she added in a small “Sorry Greg-“ before continuing.

“So Peridot, what are you trying to do? I’m not the best with tech, but I can try.” She said, kneeling in the sand next to her. Getting a look at the screen of the laptop, it looked more like they were trying to defuse a bomb than anything else, with the hundreds of drop-down menus and weird sliders.

“Well, I’m TRYING to set up these cloddy lights, but this cloddy laptop won’t clodding work!” Practically screaming, she threw herself backwards into the sand.

“Aren’t the lights already on though?” Connie asked. Peridot was still having a crisis on the floor, so Greg had to clarify. “They are, but she wants them to do that rotate-y thingy. You know, like, changing colours and stuff?”

“Yeah, I get what you mean, but uh,” She rubbed the back of her neck. “I don’t think I can help with that. Sorry, Peridot.” Looking down at her in the sand, Connie heard her make a frustrated grumble before curling up and rolling over.

Greg chuckled defeatedly, then pointed over his shoulder to the temple. “The actual party’s in there, by the way, Stu-Ball will be glad to see ya.” Nodding and wishing him good luck with Peridot, Connie made her way up the stairs. Just looking in through the screen door, she could see the chaotic scene inside in almost full detail: Amethyst haphazardly throwing confetti everywhere, Pearl running around after her to clear it up, Lapis pouring out drinks without even tipping the bottle, Garnet and Bismuth doing their best at cooking (keywords: their best) and Steven? He was just putting up balloons. She really would have been more stunned if she didn’t know them all so well.

Opening the door, she quickly dodged out of the way of an excited Amethyst and a frantic Pearl, who didn’t even notice she’d arrived. Garnet simply looked over from the kitchen and gave her a thumbs up. Alrighty then.

Connie made her way to Steven and as she got closer, she noticed more and more little details about his outfit: it was a tuxedo dress of course, but now she could see the cute little stars on his pumps, and the small black hair clip helping to tie it all together. He looked so nice today, she found herself staring for a good ten seconds before he turned around and she came back to her senses, blushing.

“Connie!” He called out cheerfully, running over to her to bridge the gap between them. Wrapping his arms around her in a hug, she squeaked in surprise before returning the favour. Leaving the hug, Connie smiled. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you, Steven! I hope it wasn’t too much trouble getting back to Beach City just for today.”

He wrapped his hand around hers as a reassuring gesture. “Don’t worry! My cars still up in Oregon, I just warped here.” He began stroking her hand, not necessarily to calm her. Heck, she didn’t really need calming. He just wanted to.

Connie suddenly remembered all the things he had called her about since he got there, getting excited. “Oh yeah, Oregon! You have to tell me more about the ghosts and the zombies, and the gnomes!” If it weren’t for already hanging out so much with the gems, she would have stopped for a second to think about how she sounded at least a bit crazy.

“Where to even begin‽” He exclaimed, throwing his arms out wide. “So you know the gift shop, yeah?” Before Connie had time to reply or Steven had time to continue, suddenly it was raining... confetti? They both looked around, confused, until they heard Amethyst.

“Sha-boooooshk!” she yelled, throwing down the colourful shreds of paper with more gusto than Connie had ever laid eyes on. Pearl shrieked when she saw them get coated in confetti, running over.

“Amethyst! Don’t you care at all about orderly party planning?” Amethyst turned round, laughing to herself and looking up at Pearl. “P, lemme lay something straight with you. ‘Orderly’ and ‘Party’ just don’t mix.” She shrugged smugly, Steven and Connie snickering under their breath.

Fed up, Pearl rolled her eyes. “Fine. I give up! If you need me, I shall be relaxing outside.” She began storming off when she turned round to Connie. “And nice to see you Connie, I hope you enjoy this,” Pearl glared at Amethyst. “unscrupulous party.”

Mocking Pearl as she left, Amethyst turned back to Connie and Steven. “God, she’s no fun. It’s just confetti! So what if it ‘takes weeks to clean up’? That my friends? That’s a problem for the 2021 Crystal Gems.” Amethyst sighed as the others laughed. “If it was up to her, we’d have a vase of flowers and some fairy lights and that’d be it! Bummer.”

“I can’t believe we’re actually almost the 2021 Crystal Gems!” Steven said, twiddling his thumbs. “It feels like yesterday Cookie Cats went off sale!” Connie began twiddling her thumbs as well, subconsciously mimicking his movement. “And it feels like yesterday we were at that parade. That parade where we met each other.”

Amethyst brought both her hands onto their shoulders, snorting. “Man, don’t get all lovey-dovey on me now!” As she said that, they blushed, remembering she’d been standing there the whole time. “Nah, I’m only goofin. You two are cute.” She said to fluster them even further, and boy did it work, Steven muttered behind his palms as he had long since thrown his head into his hands.

Suddenly, Peridot stormed into the temple to interject.

“Attention! Attention!” She screeched, everyone covering their ears. “5 minutes till 2020 shatters! Get your cloddy butts outside!” An odd choice of words, Connie thought, but certainly eccentric enough for Peridot.

As everybody made their way out, Steven and Connie made their way down hand in hand. The air was crisp, but they helped keep each other warm as they looked to the sky.

“This year’s really over.” Steven said to himself. Connie looked over thoughtfully, mulling over what was yet to come. “Yeah.” She muttered. “I’ll be sixteen next year.”

“And I’ll be seventeen. Weird.”

“Anything could happen, huh?”

“Mhm, and I am optimistic, but it’s scary.”

“But we’ll still have each other, through thick and thin, right?”

“Of course!”

“Jam Buds?”

“Jam Buds.”

And so, as the clock struck midnight, and fireworks roared above the ocean, Steven kissed her. His lips tasted of strawberry, and they were as soft as ever. Melting into his arms, she knew that no matter what the future had in store for them, they would be ok.

**Author's Note:**

> 2020's been wild, huh? I hope 2021 is actually better haha  
> Even though they're barely mentioned in the actual fic (because I'm a mess with skewed priorities) i spent a good 2 and a half hours in the middle of the night sketching out their outfits with only the light of my laptop;; they're not great because I was sleep deprived, but if anyone wants to see them, let me know!


End file.
